Richard Mallinson's Fast Fiction
Volume Two
by
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Davis ‘Do you remember me, eh?’ asks the man who grabs my arm. ‘No, I’m afraid not,’ I say, detaching myself. ‘Sorry, I’m in a hurry.‘ ‘Come on, look at me, listen to me. Surely you can’t have forgotten?’ ‘I’m sorry but I simply don’t – ‘ ‘Oh, you must try harder... Recognise the voice, now?’ ‘No, I can’t say that I do... Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must – ‘ ‘Hey, not so fast, mate, considering what you’ve done to me.’ ‘Done to you? What the hell are you talking about?’ ‘You’ve ruined my life, that’s all... That’s what I’m talking about.’ ‘Don’t be silly. How can I have ruined your life when I’ve never even set eyes on you before? Answer me that, then.’ ‘Never even set eyes on me? Ho, ho, just listen to him. How the hell do you think I came into the world, eh?’ ‘Well, I suppose you came in like everybody else, surely?’ ‘No, mate, that’s where you’re wrong. I came into the world at your behest because you needed a character for a story. What I mean is, you created me.’ ‘Oh, come on – ‘ ‘Yes, you created me for a story set in the Crown. You needed me to talk to Watson as a change from some of the other pub bores you’ve created... Remember now? You called me Davis and I was supposed to be getting married to a woman half my age. I was really looking forward to that... But what happened? I’ll tell you what happened. Bugger all, that’s what... You’ve never even mentioned me again.’ ‘Now, now, old chap,’ I say, striding off, ‘don’t take it too personally, eh?’
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About the Book
At only a page each in length, Richard Mallinson’s elegantly structured short stories are a pithy fast fiction for a modern multimedia age. A rapid succession of carefully worked observations, the stories read like a dynamic anthology of life’s collisions and interactions, its projected plans and unexpected rotations. There is a great joy in the subverted (the interviewer becomes the interviewee; the private detective becomes the conspirator) as well as an interest in the open-ended. Possibility abounds, for these are always tales of the present; the past is unclear and the future unwritten. Adhering to the strict one-page format, the writing is marvelously precise: it is highly disciplined, but infinitely rich, conjuring the most unique and sharply observed characters with remarkably few words. If indeed “we read fiction . . . in order to meet individuals” as the character Tolson declares in Mallinson’s “Tolson’s Creed,” then in this anthology we are introduced to a plethora of distinct personalities, rendered all the more compelling by their relentless unpredictability.
About the Author
Richard “Dick” Mallinson was born in Denby Dale, West Yorkshire, in 1937 and attended Penistone Grammar School. After serving as an officer in the RAF Regiment, he read modern history at Balliol College, Oxford. A man of letters, Dick was naturally drawn to a career in journalism. Working initially for the City Press and the Guardian, Dick rose to become editor of the Huddersfield Examiner, a post he held until his retirement in 1995. Dick never lost his appreciation for the written word and continued to write throughout his retirement.